Field Of Innocence
by Ita-chan18
Summary: PREQUEAL PART ONE TO STILL WORTH FIGHTING FOR(SOMEDAY) One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.
1. new life

** Field of Innocence:**

** Naruto Fanfiction**

** Written By: ItaChan18**

** Chapter One: New Life**

** A/n: So, after some wrestling on how to begin this story, adn wtih some messages asking me about the story, I have finally decided to sit down, and type the first half to the prequeal of Still Worth Fighting For(Someday). The formate is going to be different, something I plan on doing with Still Worth Fighting For(Someday), and I hope you all like it just as much as the orginal. Anyways, here's the first chappie~! Enjoy~!**

_**"Perhaps family itself, like beauty, is temporary, and no discredit need attach to impermanence."-Gregory Maguire**_

The young child's feet shuffled along the dirt road. Her green eyes were cast downward as she held onto the soft hands that belonged to her mother. For a moment, her eyes looked up at her parents. The stoic, handsome face with dark green eyes that matched her own, and dark brown hair belonged to that of her father. The one who always treated her like a task he'd rather not have, but maybe that was more die to the fact she wasn't a genius like her brothers. Her eyes flickered to the soft, pale, beautiful face with light blue eyes, eyes like her brothers eyes, light brown hair with a slight spikness, like the young child's hair, that belonged to her mother. The same mother that while she tried to show a happy face, and treat her children the same, was emontionally distant. At that moment in time, she wished either one of them would just say something even remotely comforting for once in her young life. Even if it was a lie. Just something was better than this utter silence that just screamed about the situation at hand. But she found no comfort in either. Sighing, the child went back to looking at the ground. At her shadow that seemed to be the only constent in her life these days.

"Izami, raise your head, and wipe that look from your face. You're a Sato. Start acting like one." Her father cut Izami a sharp look. Izami bit her lip, and nodded as she adopted the confident, open smile that she was used to painting on her face. Her father raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything further as they reached the gates that belonged to the famed Leaf Village.

"We're here already." Izami noted obviously.

"You're going to have alot of fun here." Her mother spoke for the first time that day, casting a kind smile to her daughter. Izami frowned slightly, remembering the whole reason they were even there in the first place. She had no choice but to follow them into the village to her fate. One last time, Izami looked behind her, saying a final good-bye to her home village.

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Izami wasn't sure what to think of the small glimspes she caught of Kohona. People bustled every which way, a mixture of ninja and civilan, old, young, groups, singles, every type of person seemed to be going somewhere. Some talked, while others seemed blissfully happy ignoring the world. The young Sato child would catch glimpses of children her age, about five years old, loitering around in groups either with what Izami assumed to be their families, or a group of friends. Smells came from every which way that ranged from the sweet smells of roses, to the spicey smell of orange chicken to the sweet smells of nature. Her eyes flickered back to her parents, and then to the shinobi leading them to the Hokage Tower, before looking at her feet again.

It was another ten mintues of walking before they reached the tower. Izami was glad to have reached the building. Not because she was tired, though that was part of the reason, but because she just wanted the day to be over with. The two shinobi lead the small family into the tower without saying much, like the whole trip there had been. Izami's eyes took in everything she saw. The hallways were rounded, like some sort of maze. A pale tan carpet benathe their feet, red lining, and then dark green walls followed by an of-white ceiling. Each door was wooden, and left their orginal light brown color. The only door that was diffrent was one that was painted red. One of the shinobi knocked, stepping back as they waited for a reply.

"Come in, please!" Came the sound of an older, but kind voice. Izami's mother cast her daughter one look before patting her daughter's back, gently moving Izami further into the room.

The room was circular, pale walls with pale floors with a pale ceiling. Winodws lined everywhere around the room, letting in alot of light. Izami's eyes eventually settled on a rather large desk in the center of the room where an old man with a red kimino on that was under a white haori. His dark eyes took in the appearance of the family that had just stepped into the room. His eyes seemed to focus in on Izami, making her feel uncomfortable, but she held her compsure.

"Hokage-sama, thank you for welcoming my family and I into your village." Izami's father and mother bowed, leaving Izami shocked. She had never seen her father bow to anyone before, but she took that as her cue, and quickly bowed before straightening out her posture. The hokage smiled slightly, and nodded.

"I have to say, I am surprised by the request. Are you absoultly sure this is the best arrangement?" Izami's seemingly bettering mood darkened again at the reminder at what was happening. Her mind quickly tuned out what the adults were saying, and began to focus more on her surroundings.

The windows the room let her see some of the outside world around her. Some windows allowed her to see people entering or leaving or passing by the building. Some were obviously shinobi while others were civilians. Another window she'd be staring at the green leaves of the trees around the tower. Another window, and she saw the red, rounded roofs of the Hokage Tower. Her eyes took in the appearnace of the shinobi in the room. One a tall man with pale skin, dark hair, and pale, pupiless eyes. He wore a robe, and a stern expression. The one beside him was a handsome man that looked no older than twenty. He had dark colored eyes that were the color of charcoal with pale skin, and dark brown hair. He had a care-free grin on his face, and had on a dark blue shirt with matching pants. His hands were in his pocket. He looked at Izami, and winked playfully. Izami blushed, and rested her head against her mother's chest, still ignoring what they were talking about.

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"I may be giving my child up to you guys for the moment being, but I want reassurance that you aren't going to stick her with someone incomputent of raising her." Her father's tone was harsh, accustory in a way. The Hokage gave a slightly exhausted sigh, but nodded. His dark eyes flickered to the child for a breif moment, and then at her parents.

"Trust me when I say I have thought of the perfect person to raise her, and over see her training."

"This person better be the best. I want proof."

"You'll have all the proof you need in just a moment, Sato-san." It was less than ten seconds after those words were uttered that a cloud of smoke appeared in the room.

What came out of the smoke was a tall man with spikey sliver hair, his face concealed by what looked like a dog mask. He wore a white flak jacket with no sleeves, just straps going over the shoulders. He wore a black shirt under that that was also sleeveless, black pants, and arm gaurds that covered most of what would have been unprotected other wise. He bowed on one knee the Hokage, only raising when the Hoakge had asked him.

"Is this the person?" Izami's father questioned, his green eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to decode who the person was that stood beside the Hokage.

"Yes. Why don't you remove your mask Kakashi-san." Izami looked out of the corner of her eyes as her parents both seemed to tense up slightly. She scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. She had never seen her parents intimidated before. Izami then looked back at the obviously important person that stood beside the hokage, the mask now removed, but half his face was still obscured, one of his eyes were even covered. Izami eyed him doubtfully, and then looked at her parents, who at that point had relaxed. Izami then looked back at the person again. Kakashi,she suddenly remembered. This was Kakashi. A name so familiar, and yet so forgein to her at the same time.

"Who are you?" SHe found herself questioning doubtfully. The person, Kakashi, smiled slightly.

"My name's Kakashi Hatake, and I will be the person taking care of you." He said bluntly, though a slightly bright tone to his words. Izami just looked at him doubtfully, still not keen on the arrangement.


	2. Kakashi Hatake

** Chapter Two: Kakashi Hatake**

Izami stared doubtfully at Kakashi as he contuined to smile beneath his hidden features. He looked over at her parents as they began asking him questions, which he answered without faultering. Izami had to give him creidt for not being intimidated, like most people seemed to be when it came to her father. In fact, Kakashi was acting like he was talking to an old friend.

When everything was said, and done, Izami left the room with Kakashi, and her parents. They were going to get her settled into her new home. Izami hated the way it sounded in her mind. What was the point in trying to make her comfortable when she knew it was only temporary? She glanced up at Kakashi, who then looked at her with a small smile. Even though his face was hidden, Izami could still tell that he was smiling at her. Izami scowled, and looked away. There was no way she was going to just accept him into her life. No way in hell.

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It took less than two hours to get Izami settled into her new room in Kakashi Hatake's apartment. Her room was small with a window on the west side that was currently letting in plenty of light. A rather large bed with plain white sheets was in the center of the room. There was a door on the right side of the room that was the closet. Izami's parents had hung up her clothes in there, and sat her underwear, and other such things in a dresser that Kakashi had placed in there. A small bookcase was in the room where Izami's books where. A few pictures had been set up in the room to make it more comfortable, and then her parents left. A hug from her mother, and her father looked at her with what she thought was sadness for a moment before they were both gone.

"Are you hungry? I can cook something up, and then we can get to know each other a bit. What do you like to eat?" Izami glanced up at Kakashi, and then shrugged, feeling a bit timid." You don't have to be afarid of me. I'm not going to bite." Izami scowled.

"I'm not afaird, and some beef stir fry sounds good."

"That's pretty easy. Come on, I'll show you where the kitchen is, and then I can start some dinner for us. Do you like cruchy rolls?"

"It's ok."

"Hmm, ok. I guess I can cook those too. Won't be too much trouble if I start now." Izami nodded stiffly, feeling herself warm up to the strange man rather fast.

Dinner was made rather fast, as Kakashi had said, and soon the two were sitting across from one another. Izami began eating while Kakashi looked at her, trying to think of a way to make her more comfortable. He knew all too well what it felt like being seperated from one's own parents. Though, her arrangement wouldn't be as peremante as his own seperation was...

"So, what kinds of things do you like?" He asked ashe began eating to shake away the thoughts he was begining to have. He locked those memories away in the place in his mind he always swore to never go in, and contuined to focus on Izami.

"Hmm, I like to play. My brother, Tachi, and I would play alot. We'd play ninja." Izami's cheecks burned from embrassment as she realized how stupid the admission sounded, considering who she was talking to, but she couldn't bring herself to care very much as she contuined." Tachi and I liked to watch our brother, Hikaru, train too. He's a genius. At least that's what everyone back home said. They said that he was a type of genius that only showed up once in a life time, and Tachi is just as smart too. Tachi's alot diffrent than Hikaru though. Hikaru's kinda mean to me, but Tachi and I get along pretty well. I like to read too. I mostly like comics, but those are a bit easier. I don't really like reading the things on the boring stuff like charka, and ninjutsu, and useful things like Papa likes me to read. Those things read like a computer manule, and it's very boring. I like stuff with stories, and I guess that's why comics are so fun reading. If I wasn't training to be a ninja though, I'd probably want to study flowers. I like flower arrangements, and figuring what looks good together, and what it means. I used to go over to Mimi's Flowers in the Cloud, and watch Miyuki-san make the arrangements. Sometimes she'd let me help, and that was pretty fun."

"So...I'm guessing becoming a ninja wasn't your first idea?" Kakashi concluded. Izami shook her head.

"No. I have talents. They may not be showing right now, but I know I have talent. What's the use in letting such talents go to waste? I'd rather become a ninja. It seems fun." Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her comment. It sounded more like something that had been ingrained into her mind, but he didn't say anything to call her out on it." So, what about you? You've had me tell you all this stuff about me. I think it's only fair that you tell me some stuff about you." Kakashi looked at her in surprise, and then shurgged slightly.

"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'm currently nineteen, and an ANBU. I like reading when I have the time off. Hmm, I think that's all you really should know about me." Izami raised an eyebrow.

"That was hardly anything at all!"

"Well, we'll have plently of time to get to know each other. You'll be styaing here queit a while, so I think that's a good introduction." Izami pursed her lips, and began eating at her dinner. Kakashi smirked, and shook his head as he contuined to eat.

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"Why should I have to go bed? It's only eight thirty." Izami complained, crossing her arms. Kakashi sighed. He'd been having this same arguement for the past five mintues.

" It's time to go to bed. You'll need a full rest tommrrow. We're going to get some blood tests done, and make sure you're ok for training, and then we'll be heading over to the Academy to get you enrolled, and there'll be paper work, and all kinds of-"

"I still don't understand why I have to go bed so early. At home, I don't go to bed until way later than this. I don't go to bed until like midnight sometimes."

"I bet you did that against your parents wishes too, huh?" Izami's burning cheecks were all the confirmination that Kakashi needed."Believe me, I sleep very lightly. I'll be able to tell if you even move out of your bed to go to the bathroom. Last thing I want is to have a fight to get you up. So, get your pajamas on, and get into that bed." Izami pursed her lips, and then sighed.

"Ok. Fine. Whatever." Kakashi sighed as he turned to leave the room. He cast one last glance at her before leaving the room, closing the door behind him as he waited for her to call him so he could tuck her in to bed.

It took less than ten mintues before Izami cracked the door open with a sullen expression. She was dressed in an overly long, blue t-shirt, and black pants underneath. Her shoulder length, light brown hair was loose around her thin shoulders.

"I can't get up on that stupid bed." Kakashi sighed, and walked into the room, helping her up, and then attempted to tuck her, but she snatched the covers from him, causing him to be mildly surprised again."I can do it myself." With that said, she tucked the covers around her, and then crossed her arms as she cast a glare towards Kakashi. The ANBU sighed heavily, and then shook his head.

"Look, this arrangement isn't nesscarily easy for me either, ok? But if you laid off the butt-face rotuine, it could be much easier for the both of us. If you just give this a chance, I'm sure you'll find it that it's not as bad as you think it is."

"I never said it was bad. Can you go? I'm tired." Kakashi sighed, and stood up.

"Ok. Well good night." Izami nodded curtly, closing her eyes as she went to bed. Kakashi gave her one last look as he paused by the door. After the moment was over, he shut off the light, and closed the door behind him.

_ Just give it time, Kakashi. She's not used to you, or this place. SHe's adjusting to her parent's abandonment. Just give her time. She's testing you. Just be patient. _A familiar voice told him in his head. Sighing, Kakashi laid down in his own bed to go to bed.


	3. First Sight

** Chapter Three: First Sight **

"These people are mostly Medical Ninjas since we're mostly working on blood tests, and other such check-ups. Pretty normal for anyone wanting to enter their child into the Academy." Kakashi explained the next day as he and Izami walked towards the Academy. Izami wore a light blue shirt, and black pants. Her hair was up into ponytail. Izami had said nothing to him the entire morning. Kakashi sighed heavily, and then looked up at the school."Well, we're here." Izami looked up at the school.

It was rounded with huge, red, wooden archways above the enterance. A kanji written in red read Fire. A lone swing was tied to the branch of a tree that stood outside. Her eyes seemed to travel everywhere, taking it all in. Kakashi paused for a moment, letting her take in the new enviorment. He opened his mouth to say something, but Izami looked at him with a small, shy smile. It took him off gaurd. Considering how she had been acting towards him.

"So the Admissions Office is where we'll be heading first, right?"

"Um. Yeah. Come on, I'll take you there." Izami nodded, a slight hop to her step as they walked towards the Academy.

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Izami huffed for about the tenth time since arriving in the Medical Wing. There were about twenty other students ahead of her, and Izami had already been waiting for about twenty mintues. Kakashi looked at Izami, patting her hand softly. Izami looked at him with a very bored expression.

"You didn't tell me it would take this long." She scowled in an accustory tone.

"Sometimes it does. There's just alot of kids this year." Izami huffed,and crossed her arms." Besides, some people...Like established clans get first priority."

"That's stupid."

"It's formalities."

"Still stupid." She complained, her eyes scanning the room of other children.

Her eyes focused in on a family in the front of the room. A man with dakr hair, and a sullen expression stood next to a pretty woman with pale skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. To the right of the woman was a small boy that looked very similiar to the woman, only his hair was spikey in the back. On the back of both his, and the father's shirt was a red and white fan looking symbol. Kakashi's eyes looked at her, and then followed her gaze.

"That's the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku-san, Mikoto-san, and their son, Sasuke-kun." Izami nodded, and then looked away as she took in the sights of other children.

A blond boy with spikey blonde hair, and blue eyes wearing a orange jacket, and blue pants sat with an impantient look on his face a little further up than she was. A little girl with dark purple hair, lavander eyes stood shyly beside a tall man with stern expression that matched her father's own look. He had dark brown hair that was long, and wore a white, robe-looking outfit. The girl was looking shyly at the blonde boy. Izami's eyes shifted towards a rather lazy looking boy with spikey brown hair in a ponytail, and small brown eyes. Next to him on either side was a rather cubby boy with light brown hair, and a pretty girl with blonde hair. Each one stood beside three males, a chubby, tall man, another with hair similiar to the lazy looking boy, but he had scars on his face, and then a blonde man with long hair.

"...Yamanka, Nara, Akimichi, and Hyuuga clan's children. You'll be year mates with them." Izami looked up at Kakashi, almost not realizing what he was saying. Kakashi sighed as he noticed this, and re-hashed what he had been saying." There are long established clans in Kohona, which is why they get first priority. Among them, Uchiha, Yamanka, Nara, Hyuuga, and Akimichi are among them. Hyuuga and Uchiha are considered to be the two most powerful clans, but that's due to their highly unique abilites that no other clan has."

"What's that?" She questioned, her eyes flinting back towards the little boy with spikey black hair. Sasuke. His name was Sasuke. Her green eyes flickered back to Kakashi, who rubbed at his covered eye for a moment before speaking again.

"I'll tell you some other time." His tone was soft, almost sad. Izami felt bad for some reason, and for once...She couldn't find it in herself to argue back.

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"This will only hurt for a moment, Dear." Izami felt herself tense up at the look of the needle.

It was a full hour after they had first arrived at the Acadmey, and Izami had finally gotten through. The woman wrapped something around her arm, and then began the process. After the blood was drawn, safely put away, and a bandage was put on Izami's arm where the needle was, they checked her weight, and went through the normal check-up routine. It seems most of her medical records had already been transferred over from the Cloud Village. So that part was over rather fast.

Afterwards, Kakashi had paperwork to do, so Izami was given some things to keep herself busy. The paperwork took an hour to finish. After that, they were lead to another part to check on Izami's relfexes, and what she had known about certain shinobi skills. They had found that she was very expectional when it came to the knowledge of shinobi skills, but as a formality, still placed her in the first year class.

By the time the whole ordeal was over, it was about noon. They had initally arrived there at eight thirty. Three and a half hours, and they were finally, finally done.

"I'm hungry. Can we go get something to eat, Pleeease?" Izami was in a rather chipper mood after all was said and done. Kakashi looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Well...I guess we can go get a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. It's the best you can get around here."

"Well, then, let's go!" She looked around the busy street, and then looked at Kakashi expectantly. Kakashi smiled to himself, and lead the way. If she always acted like this, he could very well get used to this arrangement...


	4. Nightmare

** Chapter Four: Nightmare**

Izami and Kakashi ate in realtive silence, other than Izami's humming as she slurpped at her noddles, her cheecks slightly red. Kakashi ate rather slower, observing her.

"Father hated it when I slurpped loudly. He called it bad manners, and rude." Izami said after she finished her bowl with a shrug. She grinned up at Kakashi." But you don't look like the type to really care, or you would have told me something. It feels nice to eat however I want to eat." Izami giggled slightly, and then took a drink at her previously untouched tea.

"Well...Some people would consider it rude not to slurp. They might think you don't like their meal."

"Father thought that was an out dated thing. He's always so concerned about how I appear to everyone. I couldn't really care less."

"You're laid back."

"I'm a kid. I want to enjoy being a kid before I turn into a boring adult. I want to climb tall trees in shorts, scrape my knees, get a little brusied up, and just enjoy myself. That's why I don't care." Kakashi looked at her for another moment, the words sounding too familiar in a way, but again he locked those thoughts away with a shake of his head.

"Well, are you full? We have some training to get to, so-"

"I'm ready! I'm ready!" Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at her excitment as she nearly jumped out of the seat. Izami blushed slightly, and then leaned back with a more controlled expression."I mean, I'm full. I'm ready to train whenever you are Kakashi-sensei." It was the first time Izami had used his name at all, but he found himself very uncomfortable with the word 'sensei'. He cleared his throat as he stood up, laying down some money on the counter.

"You don't have to call me tha. Just plain Kakashi will work just as fine."

"M'kay...Kakashi-san." She smiled up at Kakashi, and then took his lead out of the shop, and towards the training ground.

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"This is Training Ground Three. Mostly used for beginners so that they can learn new forms, and practice. Hence, the dummy's located here. I don't think that you're queit ready to-"

"So, these forms? They can't be much diffrent than the ones we use in the Cloud, right? You keep a strong, firm stance like this, rihgt?" She moved her feet about her shoulder length's apart, her body slightly turned towards her right side."Keep yourself ready, and able to defend yourself. Always be on-" She landed with an oof on the ground as Kakashi gently kicked her off her feet. She glared at him while she stood back up slowly, rubbing her now sore behind.

"Now, what is it you were about to say? Something about always keeping on your gaurd, hmm?" Izami huffed, and crossed her arms.

"You're worse than Hikaru."

"Oh come now, I can't be that bad, can I?" Izami huffed, pouting for just a moment before adopting back her smirk.

"So, are we going to stand here all day? Or are you actually going to teach me something?" Kakashi smirked just the slightest under his mask. Yes. He could most defiently get used to the child.

Training the first day mostly consisted of Kakashi teaching her formations in both defensive and offensive. He reinforced ones that were weak in stance. It was only a few hours that they worked, and he deemed it enough time to have trained. So, they went home.

It was near dinner time, so Kakashi had went ahead, and cooked some dinner for the both of them while Izami went to clean herself up from the dirt, and grime she had collected during the training session. Dinner was eaten in realtive silence, other than Izami's playful humming.

Once dinner was over, Izami got her pajamas, and took a bath, and then after dressing herself for the night, crawled into her bed still filled with excitment from the day's activites.

"Now remember what I said. Stay in bed. We have alot of things to do tommrrow."

"When is the Academy Enetrance Ceremony?"

"Well, if you pass, then it will be in three months. You haven't been trained much, so I have to get you at least up to par with some of the other students that you'll be year mates with. You'll need all the rest you can get." Izami nodded slightly, and then rested back on the pillows.

"G'night Kakashi-san." Kakashi nodded, patting the bed slightly, and then walking out of the room.

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It was almost eleven at night, almost four hours after Izami had been put to bed, that she heard the first noise. It was a panting kind of noise. One she regconized from when she was out of breath, or scared. Thinking it was all a part of some dream, Izami scrunched up her eyebrows, groaned, and turned on her side, throwing the covers over her whole body as if that would block out any sort of noise. She tried to fall back asleep.

At eleven thirty, She was again awoken by the same sounds, only this time it sounded like someone was tossing and turning in their bed. Izami huffed, and turned on her other side, scowling.

"AAAHH!" With that rather loud scream that sounded more like a very loud gasp, Izami's eyes snapped open. She sighed in annoyance as she flipped the blanket off her body, and sat up in the bed with a clearly annoyed look.

"How does he expect me to sleep when he's doing whatever it is he's doing." She complained as she slid off the bed.

At the same time her feet hit the ground, she heard another thump on the ground, like Kakashi had fallen off the bed, and then a second later there was a hurried running towards the bathroom. Curiousty got the better of Izami. She quietly opened the door of her bedroom, and pushed it open. Her eyes squinted as she looked towards the bathroom whose light was on. She heard the rushing of water from the sink. Her body tensed up slightly.

A familiar feeling rushed through Izami's body, like she often got when she evasedropped on her father's conversations. She knew she should be in bed, sleeping, but she couldn't bring herself to go back to sleep. Before she realized she was doing it consciously, her feet started moving towards the bathroom door silently, her body tensed up anixously. She peeked around the corner of the bathrooom door, her green eyes widening at what she saw.

Kakashi was rubbing at his hands vigoursly, his mouth mummbling something that she couldn't queit catch over the noise of the rushing water. Kakashi raised his hands from the sink, eyes widening. Izami bite the inside of her lips, her body tensing up more. His hands were red, probably from the hard scrubbing he was doing. Water dripped from his hands, and into the sink. She looked back into his face, noticing how his own eyes seemed to widen in fear, like he was seeing something that Izami just couldn't see. Her heart raced as Kakashi went back to wash his hands even harder than before, like he was trying desperately to get rid of something that just wasn't there.

Again, without her realizing it, her feet shuffled foreward until they hit the door, causing it to creak open. Kakashi gasped in what seemed like slight fear. He whipped his head towards the sound, only to see Izami looking at him in what looked like a mixture of confusion, worry, and fear. Kakashi paused in his washing, letting his hands soak in the running water. Izami's eyes flickered from the running water to the sink that concealed his hands to Kakashi's face, her hand gripping at the fabric of her shirt as if trying to calm her own beating heart.

"Um, Kakashi-san...Wha...What's going on?" Kakashi looked at her a moment longer, shaking his head. He turned towards the sink, eyes closed slightly as he took deep breaths. With hsi eyes closed, he turned off the water, and then looked back at her with an apologetically.

"I...I just had a bad dream. Are you ok?" He sounded out of breath. Izami bit her lips, and then nodded slightly.

"I'm...I'm ok. I'm just hungry."

"Well...I can get you something small to eat. Do you like fruit?" Izami nodded.

"I...I like bannanas."

"I have plenty of those. Come on. I'll get you one, and then we can head to bed." He put a wet, red hand on her shoulder, gently moving her foreward. She looked back at him with worry.

"Kakashi-san...Are...Are you going to be ok?" Kakashi looked at her, and gave a shaky smile.

"I'll be fine. Come. We should get you that bannana, and into bed as soon as we can. It's a long day tommrrow." Izami nodded, following Kakashi's lead.


	5. Sasuke Uchiha

** Chapter Five: Sasuke Uchiha**

After that night, Izami made a promise to herself that she would be more open to her situation, her ne w home, and to Kakashi. After that night, Kakashi seemed to pay more attention to her, spending more time with her outside of training, and preparing for school. After training, he would take her to get some sweets that she seemed to love so much. He was teaching her to write better, and was even brought her a book on flower arrangements, since she mentioned her love of Ikebana. She seemed to enjoy it well enough, and read it every day.

Izami pretty much kept to herself. She didn't really see many other kids her age, and when she did, Izami didn't stop to talk to them. It was only a month into her staying with Kakashi that she first met any of his friends. A woman with wild hair, and red eyes named Kurenai, a tall, tan man with a beard named Asuma, and a werid guy with large eyebrows in a green jumpsuit named Gai. Each seemed to have a diffrent reaction to her. Kurenai merely smiled. Asuma had a cool air of indiffrence, and Gai...Gai seemed most enthusatic about her, asking all kinds of strange questions so fast that one word just blurred into another. She only managed to answer a few of them before Kakashi had even said something to Gai. Gai then turned his attention towards Kakashi. Izami was glad for that relif.

Another month had passed before Izami felt brave enough to be left alone. It was during, of course, Kakashi's training. He was teaching her basic sensory techinques.

"It's a simple game of Hide and Seek only with a moving target. You have a sense of my charka signature, right?" Kakashi had questioned. Izami smirked, and crossed her arms.

"Well, duuh! You've had me focusing on that for the past week! If I hadn't gotten a feel of it by now than I'd really be weak!" Kakashi sighed, and nodded. Sometimes, she could act so...

"Ok, well. Let's put it to the test. I'm not going to make tis easy on you, so-"

"That's fine! I can take what ever you throw at me." Kakashi sighed again.

"Ok. Well, I'm going to lead you to a place, and I want you to count to thirty. I want you to focus hard, and try to find me. Then, we'll switch. Who ever finds the other first wins. Ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Totally got it Kakashi-san." Kakashi nodded, and lead her to where he had already planned for her to start. He would go easy, considering she was a beginner...

So, there was Izami. Counting. Her face up on her arm which was against pressed against the tree. This was the tenth time they had done this same thing. Kakashi swore that he was honestly trying not to win, but Izami doubted him as she contuined to challenge him.

Unknown to her, she had moved herself to a part of the village that belonged to one particular clan. One she had seen during her medical exams at the Acadmey, and one she sometimes heard come from Kakashi's mouth. The Uchiha Compound which owned the lake where she was currently at, counting. Also unknown to her, two of them were heading her way at that exact same moment.

"One, two, he better not pull that crap again, five six..." SHe muttering to herself in annoyance.

"Hey you! Who are you?!" Izami paused for just a second at hearing the young voice. She raised her head, and turned to look at two people.

One of them was a boy just a little older than her. He looked about ten, or maybe a little older. He had long black hair tied at the knape of his neck. He had dark eyes that were heavily lashed, like a girls eyes. He wore a black shirt, and matching pants. He had a slight smile on his face as he looked at her.

A little boy stood next to him. A boy Izami's age. He had spikey blue-black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes. He had on a dark colored, high colored shirt with white shorts. His dark eyes looked at her with an accusing look on his face. It took her a moment to realize where she had recgonized him. This was Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Go away, I'm busy."

"Do you even know where you are?" The boy, Sasuke, said again. The older of them smiled softly, and touched Sasuke's shoulder lightly.

"Sasuke-kun, if she knew where she was, I don't think she would have stayed."

"Itachi-nii-san, everyone who lives here knows this is Uchiha property!" He looked up at the older one, Itachi, and then at Izami, who just scowled."What are you doing here anyways?"

"Doesn't matter now! He's already won! Again!" Izami huffed, crossing her arms.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Itachi sighed, and touched his brothers arm.

"Let's go, Sasuke-kun. Father's waiting for us."

"But she's on our property!"

"I apologize for that." Izami jumped, and looked at Kakashi with a scowl. Itachi then got a professional look on his face.

"Kakashi-san, I didn't realize you were with this girl." Kakashi looked up at Itachi, and nodded slightly.

"Yes. Lord Third has tasked me with caring for her while she's training in our village."

"So, she's new?"

"Yes. I do apologize, I didn't think she'd come this far." Izami frowned, and then looked back at Sasuke, who crossed his arms at her.

"It's alright. No harm was done." Itachi looked down at Sasuke."See? She's new, and didn't know what she was doing. Come on." The two quickly left.

As soon as they were out of sight, Kakashi let out a breath of relif, and lead Izami out of the Uchiha property.

"You're lucky it was Itachi-kun, and Sasuke-kun. Had it been any other Uchiha, I doubt they would have been as nice." Izami looked up at him, eyebrows scrunched together.

"What do you mean?"

"Uchiha are very protective of what's left of their property. They don't take kind to strangers unwarrantly walking onto their land."There was a certain tone to Kakashi's voice that Izami didn't quiet understand. Kakashi looked at her, causing her to look away." Well, they won't say nothing. Unlike many others in their clan. Itachi-kun is quiet understanding, and Sasuke-kun won't say anything either." Izami nodded, and contuined to follow Kakashi. Izami cast one last look over her shoulder at the space that was no empty. For some reason, her eyes strained trying to find Sasuke or Itachi, but to no avail. They were long gone. Izami pursed her lips, eyebrows scrunching together, and then contuined to follow Kakashi for more training.


	6. New Friends

** Chapter Six: New Friends**

_ We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. - Robert Louis Stevenson _

It was two more months before Izami started the Kohona Ninja Academy. The month beofre, she was finally passed to enter. More paper work, and some more medical things were done to prepare her for the Academy. WHen everything was set, they gave her the books she would need for the school. Kakashi brought her some pens, pencils, notebooks, and other things that she would need for school. Of course, they contuined her training. Izami was begining to come out of her shy shell, and became more out going, and confident in herself. Kakashi was rather surpirsed to see the change happen so fast, but was relieved at the same time.

The Acadmey Enterance Ceremony happened two days before her actual enterance. The Hokage stepped up, and talked about the new generation of Leaf Shinobi, and the importance of keeping the Will of Fire burning, and all that important stuff. After the long speech, they met the teachers, mostly the ones that would be teaching her this year. The main one, a burly man with a clean shaven face, dark hair and eyes, smiled immedtaly as he came up on Izami and Kakashi.

"The great Kakashi Hatake! I had no idea you had a daughter!" Kakashi opened his mouth to say something, but the man had turned his attention to the little girl. Izami smiled at him widely.

"Hi!" Izami waved, causing the man to let out a laugh.

"Well,hello there! What's your name?"

"Izami Sato. And I'm not Kakashi's daughter. He wishes he had someone awesome like me as a kid! He's just taking care of me." The man nodded with another smile.

"Well, etiher way. With someone as talented as Kakashi-sama teaching you, I'm sure you'll be just as good." He stood back up, and held out his hand towards Kakashi. Kakashi quickly shook. After that, the man left, moving on to other shinobi.

"He's right. You'll do fine. Even the people examining you said you have potentional."

"Psh. You don't need to tell me that, Kakashi-san. I know I'm good, and I know I'll do fine." Kakashi looked at her with an eyebrow raised, and then shrugged slightly.

"Well, there's stilll a few hours left of thing. Formalities say that we have to stay until the end. You don't mind do you? You'll actually have to mingle with the kids..." Izami actually looked unsure for a moment, but then she smiled again.

"I'll be fine." SHe grinned widely at Kakashi. Kakashi smiled smally, and then nodded.

"Well, good." Izami looked away, her eyes scanning the children among the crowd, her lips pursing. She caught sight of Sasuke, and his family, and for a moment Izami thought of going up to him, and saying something to him, but something held her back from doing so.

_ If they're protective over some stupid land, I doubt that they'll warm up to strangers talking to them. Clan, sure, but outsiders no. It's like my family. So no go._ Izami thought, her eyes scanning the crowd for more kids._ Too stupid looking. Too wild looking. Too...Weird looking. Hmm, who? Ah, maybe this one won't be so bad._

Izami smiled again as she spotted a boy with dark brown hair, and dark grey eyes with slightly tan skin. He wore a green, long sleeved shirt over a grey vest looking thing, and black pants with black boots. He was smiling a wide, toothy smile as he held the pale hand of a beautiful, but sad looking woman with long, black hair that was half up in a top knot. She had pretty amber eyes with long lashes, and she wore a long, robe-styled dress. She looked down at her son with a kind smile. Izami let out a breath, and then walked confidently towards them.

"Hi!" SHe annouced as she walked up to them. The woman looked at her with surprise. Her red-painted, fully lips were in an o-shape. Her eyes looked around Izami, and then back at her.

"Where are your parents?" She questioned in a soft, feminine voice that sounded much younger than she was. Izami shuffled her feet nervously.

"They're...They're not here. In the village. I'm being taken care of by another person in the village, but he said to come, and talk to some people, and you guys seemed nice!" Izami didn't feel like telling them that her parents had sent her against her will, but she didn't think it was nesscariy to tell them that. The woman seemed to relax slightly. An easy going smile graced her lips.

"Well, what's your name?"

"Izami. What are your guys name?"

"My name is Wabisuke, and this is my Momma Natsumi!" The boy, Wabisuke, answered in a high pitched, excited tone before his mother, Natsumi, even had a chance to say anything. "You look like you come from a shinobi clan, do ya?" Izami nodded, smiling conifedntly.

"Yeah. My clan is from the Cloud. "

"That's far away! What's your clan name?"

"Sato."

"Oooo, Papa does work with them! They're pretty cool!" Izami blushed, and laughed.

"I guess." The woman looked at Izami with what one could consider both wary and curiousty. Natsumi wondered about Izami's situation, since the Sato, she knew, had such strict rules about their clan, and their people. Natusmi knew that this was no normal situation, but she said nothing while the children talked. She supposed she would find out some other time." So, you guys don't come from a ninja Clan?"

"Nah, we're not that awesome. My momma comes from a family that works in the theater, and Papa comes from a really rich family, but I wanted to become a ninja. So Momma and I are going to live here while I do my training."

"That's awesome! Hey, wanna be friends? Us weridos hafta stick together!" Wabisuke blushed, pausing for a moment as Izami stuck out her hand, but then he adopted the same confident smile, and took her hand.

"Sure!" Izami smiled in victory to herself. SHe had step one down: Make A friend. Ste Two: Avoid all idoits...

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Kakashi-san! Kakashi-san! Get up! Get up! It's almost time for me to go to school! Kakashi-san! I'm not going to look like an idoit, and show up late! Do you know how bad that is? Kakashi-san get up! It's time for me to go!" Kakashi groaned, and looked at Izamia she contuined to shake him. She was more like her father than she had put on before. Annoying.

"I'm me five mintues." Izami huffed, and nodded. She was already dressed in a light blue shirt with a deep v-neck, and black baggy shorts. Her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she wore black, open-toed shoes. She looked at Kakashi a second longer, and then walked out of the room, allowing him that moment of privacey as she waited outside the door.

"Five mintues, and then I'm going without you!" SHe shouted, not really meaning it. A sick, twisting feeling began in her gut as Izami realized just how much she was sounding like her father. SHe shook her head, ignoring the feeling as she waited impaintely. Five mintues to the second, Kakashi opened the door in his ninja wear.

"You'll have to come home by yourself, unless you want to visit a friend or something. I've been summoned to do a mission. It will only take two weeks, so I hope you can do fine by yourself." Izami felt scared, but nodded anyways.

"I'll be ok."

"I really ddon't like leaving you alone."

"I'll be ok." Izami smiled up at him." Mother taught me to cook since I can stand on a stool, and see over the stove, and Father has taught me everything I need to survive on my own, so I'll be ok." Kakashi paused as they began walking towards the Academy, but nodded.

"Ok. Well, I have enough time to see you to the Academy, but after that I have to leave." Again, Izami nodded.

"That's ok. I'll be ok." Kakashi still felt really guilty, but nodded.

"Ok." Was all he said as they arrivied at the Academy. Izami looked at him, and smiled.

"See ya! Be safe!"

"You too." He bent down, hugging her tightly before turning on his heel, and walking away. Izami bit her lip, feeling scared, and then walked away towards the Acadmey.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

" Welcome all you new Leaf Buds! My name is Toshi Misoshi. I'll be teaching your general classes, and most of us met during the Enterance Ceremony, but a formal introduction is much needed. So, hopefully we'll get along great! Now, today's subject is the hisroty of our little village. Now..." It was at that point Izami tuned him out. Was it bad? Yes, but she couldn't bring herself to care. What did learning the history on anything have to do with being a ninja?

She looked at the children around her. To her right, was the purple haired girl with pale lavander eyes that had no pupils. Hyuuga. SHe was from the Hyuuga clan. Izami looked to her left, and there was Wabisuke. His excited smile on his face never seemed to leave his face. Izami liked that about him. He excitdly wrote notes down on his black and red notebook. She looked in front of her. There sat the Nara boy and the Akimichi kids. The Akimichi kid was eating a bag of chips quietly, trying to offer some to the boy next to him, but the Nara refused. Ahead of them was the blonde boy with spikey hair. On the other side of the room was Sasuke, who seemed to intently pay attention with a wide smile. She sighed, and turned her attention to the teacher.

The whole day seemed to pass in a blur. The first hour and a half, the teacher talked nothing but of the history. After which, the class was spilt boys on one side, girls on the other, and lead by a female teacher for the girls, and another male teacher for the boys. THe girls were taught about female ninjas, Kuniochi, and their contrubutions. Izami was slightly more intrested in this, but not enough to actually make her pay attention.

Lunch time rolled around, and the children were let out for a one hour lunch break. The kids played outside, mostly sticking together in groups. Wabisuke was quick to catch up with Izami.

"Hey! Hey! Izami-chan! Why are you by yourself?"

"I forgot my lucnh. I left my house in such a hurry that I forgot the lunch Kakashi-san made for me yesterday." Izami looked as Wabisuke jumped onto the wooden table, a bento box on his lap.

"We can share. Momma always packs too much." Izami smiled, and nodded.

"Sure. Is she a good cook?"

"She's the best. Here, try this egg roll." He handed her the roll. Izami shrugged, adn took it. She began eating.

"Mmm this is good!"

"I told you so!" He smirked at her, and then handed her a juice box. Izami raised an eyebrow.

"That's you-"

"Momma always packs two. I don't need two, so I figured I'd just give it to you." Izami didn't believe him, but took it anyways. To her surprise, he got another one. He grinned at her." See, I told ya so!" Izami shrugged, and then began drinking from her juice.

"Thank you." Izami said softly, blushing heavily. Wabisuke looked at her in surprise.

"For what?"

"For...For sharing your lunch with me."

"Hey! It's no problem! You'll just owe me one!" Izami smiled at him, and shoved him lightly as she jumped off the table.

"Psst, like I'll ever owe you anything." Wabisuke blinked at her for a moment, and then jumped down next to her, keeping up with her pace.

"You totally do! For now, you just owe me a roll, and a juice." Izami laughed, and looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. Ok." SHe said saracatsically. Wabisuke frowned palyfully, and shoved her lightly. Izami gasped slightly, and glared at him."Jerk!" SHe said loudly, playfully shoving him back. Izami paused when she saw Sasuke sitting under a tree, eating at his bento box with a scowl. Wabisuke paused, and looked at her.

"You ok?" Izami shook her head, and looked at Wabisuke with a smile.

"I'm fine. Hey, wanna play a game?"

"Ok! How about tag?"

"That's not verry fun when it's just two people."

"Sure it can be! Watch!" Wabisuke slapped her chest hard enough to shove her back. He grinned widely." Tag! You're it!" Izami huffed, and ran after him.

The rest of the day, the two were rather insepertable. They passed notes during class, mainly making funny faces about the other, and were quickly forming a close bond. Izami surprised herself by how quickly she was warming up to Wabisuke. He reminded her so much of Tachi. SHe supposed that was part of it. It was like she had never left home.

By the end of the day, the two didn't want to be seperate from each other. Izami wasn't exactly looking foreward to being by herself in another persons home. Sure, Kakashi had made it quiet clear that his home was her home, but it still felt like a strangers home. She didn't like the thought of being by herself for the first time in her life. Wabisuke, on the other hand, just wanted to spend more time with her. He was really begining to like her.

"I really wish you could come over. It's just Momma and me now since Papa is away on bussniess. It'll be fun having a friend over." Izami smiled, and shrugged.

"I really don't want to intrude."

"You won't be! I think Momma likes you!" Izami blushed, and then nodded. After all, she didn't want to be alone.

"Yeah. Ok."

"Sweet!" His smile widened as he spotted his mother coming towards them. He jumped off bench, and ran towards Natsumi." Momma, can Izami-chan come over to the house?" Natsumi's amber eyes looked at Izami, who sheepishly looked away. Natsumi pursed her lips, and then nodded slightly.

"Sure. I see no harm."

"Yeess!" Wabisuke fist pumped the air, and then grinned at Izami." Come on Buddy! Let's go!" Izami smiled, and jumped off the bench, following Wabisuke and his mother to their house.


	7. You Again!

** Chapter Seven: We Meet Again**

** A/n: Yeah...Sorry for not updating this for so long, buuut...I kinda ran dry on this for awhile, but I thought to myself...I need to start with this story again because no more hiatus stories because you get lazy...Sooooooo here I am...Sorry if it's cruddy, I'm sorta forcing this out ^^; Anyways, hope you enjoy it either way. Enjoy~!**

Izami stayed at Wabisuke's home until it was almost sunset. It was at that point that Natsumi sent her home. Luckliy, the two didn't live far from each other so it wasn't much of a trek to get back to Kakashi's home. Izami was rather excited from her time spent with Wabisuke, and his mother. Natsumi was a very kind, and loving mother, and Wabisuke was just a ball of enegery that bounced from one thing to the next. Izami had gotten used to him rather fast. She almost dreaded when it was time to make the trek back to Kakashi's now empty home. Wabisuke lived on the other side of the rather large village, almost a good forty-five mintue walk from where she was. She hated walking alone. What she hated more was the fact that she would be alone in Kakashi's home. However, her time to go home was all to soon. Natsumi and Wabisuke walked her back to Kakashi's apartment. Her and Wabisuke said their good byes, and then went their own ways. Izami was alone.

The young child had tried to do everything that could keep her occupied. Izami wandered about the house, looking at things she hadn't been allowed to touch previously. She looked at a photo alumb, but it didn't have many pictures in it, so she quickly put it away. She ate a small sandwhich. Watched some tv. Listened to music. Took a shower. Did her homework, which was all too easy. She tried everything, but was still incrediably bored. By the time it hit nine at night, she put herself to bed. It was something to do after all.

The next week at the Academy flew by faster than Izami expected to fly by. She found herself bored there as well, if only because the work always seemed to easy. One thing that kept her intrested was not only her friends that she was slowly making, or more like the kids that spoke to her out of sheer curiosty of a foreigner in Kohona, attending their Academy, was the Uchiha boy. He was talented, very much so. It annoyed Izami just how easily things came to Sasuke. However, he just acted indiffrent towards it all. All the girls seemed to like him for how cool he acted, and the boys seemed to like him for how talented he was at everything. Izami was just annoyed. Annoyed at both his talent, and popularity, even if she had her fair share at both. However, beneath the jealously, and the annoyance was that curiousty. She was curious about him, and wanted to get to know him. But her jealously, annoyance, and pride kept her from interacting with him. For awhile, anyways. Awhile meaning approximently a week.

Izami really had no idea where the actual Uchiha complex was located. A part of her really didn't want to find out. What if someone came up to her asking:

"You're not an Uchiha. What the hell are you doing here kid?"

What could she say? Would she just say:

"Oh. Hi. You don't know me, but I'm looking for Sasuke-kun. If you could tell me where his house is, that would be really great! He's not a friend or anything. He doesn't really know me. I just wanna talk to him."

Yeah. No. That's something a crazy person would do. Or at least in Izami's mind that was the case. What she did know, though, was where their land approixmently was located. After all, she had accidently been on it a few months ago when Kakashi was training her. She could easily just go there, and figure out what to do from there. After all, she was bound to run into someone, wasn't she? And then she'd figure out what to do from there.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Izami had her mind made up. She was going to talk to the infurating perfect Sasuke Uchiha, even if it killed her to do so. Well, kill her figurativly speaking anyways. Swallowing her pride, and doubt, and any other emontion on a Saturaday morning, Izami dressed, did the mundane morning things, and mustered up as much confidence as she could, and walked over to that place where she had first had run into the Uchiha boy. Near a river. With a tree. Where she had counted. Where she had lost that game to Kakashi.

"I just hope they understand. I'm just a kid." Izami said under her breath once she had reached the place. Her heart was beating fast from worry, her muscles were tensed up. She already had her eyes trained on the tree, just in case she had to hide. She even stood closer to it. It was awhile that she waited. She was ready to give up when she sensed some people coming. Two people, and two people she couldn't get a sense of. Immedtaly, Izami ran, and hid behind the tree, keeping her charka down so they hopefully wouldn't find her.

"...I don't think you're very funny Shisui-kun." Izami crouched low, her legs draw up to her chin, but she perked slightly at the familiar, deep voice that sounded tired, and annoyed." Like I really want to know every detail of your newest 'date'."

"Oh, c'mon! It wasn't that bad! Besides, she was like a total ten, dude."

"Like I said, I don't want to know."

"You're too serious. How do you expect to get any girls with...Hey, do you sense that?"

"Yeah. Behind the tree. Don't worry. I know who it is. I'll handle it."

_ Crap. Got caught. Ok. Ok. Calm down Izami Sato. Just explain the situation even if it sounds ridicously crazy, and stalkerish. Itachi-san seems understanding. Oh Kami, please don't let that kindness be just a show. Please! I really-_

"Hey, Kid, do you even know where you are?" Izami looked up to see a boy of about thirteen with wild, curly, black hair, and dark grey eyes with really pronnounced eyelashes. He wore a black high collared, short sleeved shirt, and matching pants with black ninja shoes. He had the tradtional blue forehead protector with the Leaf symbol tied around his forehead. Beside him was the kind one that she had encountred. He was with Sasuke. Izami scowled slightly, and looked at the other one, trying to read him. To get a feel for him.

"She's the one I told you about, Shisui-kun. The one Sasuke-kun is Academy yearlings with." A look of recgoinzation flew across the young teens face. His face went from suspcion, to a bright happiness right away.

"Oh! The foregin girl Kakashi-sama is takin' care of! Got'cha!" He grinned at Izami, making her relax just slightly." So! What brings you here? Kakashi-sama out?"

"Y-yeah...On a mission...Umm-"

" You must be here for Sasuke-kun right? You guys friends or somethin?"

"Umm...Something like that." Her green eyes flickered towards Itachi who had a small smirk on his face. It was like he knew. Izami's eyes flickered back to Shisui." Umm, I really didn't know where the main compound was, and I didn't want to get in trouble, so...I came here."

"Ah! Got'cha! Come with us, Kid. We'll take you there."

"I'll introduce you. Don't worry about my father. He's just-"

"Strict. Had a stick up his butt constantly." Shisui interruppted with a shrug. He then threw a smile towards Izami."Don't let that scare you away. He's like that with everyone." Itachi let out an annoyed sigh, but looked back at Izami.

"Sasuke-kun good in school?" Izami wasn't sure why he was asking that. Was he just trying to make her feel comfortable?

"...Yes." Izami admitted with a annoyed mutter." Annyoingly so..." She admitted again, brining a blush to her cheecks.

"Must run in the blood. Itachi there is pretty freakin' amazing. Gradutated by the age of seven. Chuunin just this year. Hell, the guy even mastered out family's Kekkai Genkai by age eight."

"You mastered it at ten. You graduated at ten, and at thirteen you're already ANBU."

"I give it six months, and you'll be right there with me, Buddy." Izami felt annoyance towards the two boys. Great. A family full of geniuses. Itachi looked at Izami, her sullen expression, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Everyone's smart in their own ways." That didn't make her feel any better. That sounded like something her mother would say when her father would compare his "weak and useless daughter" to his "smart, elite sons". It never helped.

It was a good twenty mintue walk from the river to the compound, and another ten mintue walk from the compound opening to the Uchiha's Head house. During that time, Shisui had filled every moment of silence into some sort of converstation. Most of it aimed towards Itachi, and only a few questions were aimed towards Izami. When they reached the house, Izami found herself oddly disappointed. It was large, yes. Probably about five or six rooms were in the house if she had to guess, but it was very plain looking. A yard outside had a smal garden at the sides, and a flower bed at the doorway. Through the window, she could see both the parents, sitting on the couch, watching something on the tv. She could see Sasuke watching, his body resting by his mother's feet with a big grin.

"Ah, glad they're home." Itachi looked down at Izami with an eyebrow raised." Think you're ready?" "Uhh-"

"Hey, Itachi, dude. I'm going over to the trainig grounds. It's kinda uncomfortable in your house since..." Shisui looked down at Izami, and then cleared his throat as he looked up at Itachi."Well, you know." A dark looked flashed across Itach's face for a second, and then it was gone as he just nodded. For the first time, Izami almost felt fearful from that look.

"Ah...Well, I'll just meet you there. Thirty mintues top." Shisui nodded.

"Alright. I'll wait. I need to sharpen some of my kunai anyways." Itachi nodded. Shisui left with that nod. Itachi looked back at Izami. SHe looked back at him with a small smile.

"Sooo...Sasuke-ku?"

"Right. Come with me." He put a awkward hand on her shoulders, and lead her in the yard.

As soon as they came up to the door, Sasuke had it wide open, and immedtaly hugged his older brother with a wide grin. Izami stepped back slightly, as if afarid she, herself would get knocked down from the impact.

"Itachi-nee-san! Welcome home! It's boring without you here!" Sasuke looked up at his brother with the widest smile, and a happy gleam to his eyes. Izami felt herself surprised by that look. SHe had never seen any emontion but boredrum, and cockiness on his face.

"Sasuke-kun, this is-"

"What _she_ doin' here?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Izami, his lips were pursed as if pouting. Izami huffed, annoyance building up in her. SHe crossed her arms, and was about to retort when Itachi spoke up.

"You might want to be a little nicer to her, Sasuke-kun. She took a risk wanting to talk to you." Sasuke seemed surprised for a moment, but narrowed his eyes again. He never looked away from Izami. She was glaring just as hard.

"Why? Did you not want to bother anyone else?"

"I give up. Who is this girl, Itachi?" Izami's look immedtaly softened. She bit her lips, and looked down at her feet, shuffling slightly. Itachi glanced at her, and then at his father.

"It's the girl I told you about a while back, Father, remember? The one Kakashi-sama is training, and taking care of?" Izami glanced up shyly as a look of recgoinzation crossed the man's face. Izami suddenly remembered his name. Fugaku. The head of the Uchiha.

"Ah, yes. _Her_. Well, what is she doing here?"

"Kakashi-sama is away on a mission. She was training in a field when Shisui-kun and I were going to when she asked to come see Sasuke-kun. Wanting..Tips." Fugaku looked like he didn't believe his son, but said nothing as he looked at his younger son.

"Sasuke, go with your brother and this girl. Give her some tips, or whatever." Sasuke looked at his father with wide eyes. He had the expression like his father had just told him to cut off his hands.

"But, Father-"

"Just go." Sasuke huffed, and glared at Izami." Fine." With that he was gently pushed out the door. The door quickly shut behind him. Both he and Izami had sullen expressions.

"Well, come on you two." Itachi turned, and began walking. Izami followed him with Sasuke walking beside him.

"This is all your fault." Sasuke whispered. Izami glared.

"Your fault."

"Whose the weak one who wanted to get tips?" Izami huffed, and looked foreward. She tried to quicken her pace, but Sasuke easily kept pace. Izami felt annoyed again. Stupid Uchiha. Stupid genius boy. Stupid everything!

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"Ok, you two are going to train. Show me what you got." Itachi said, leaning back. Izami frowned, biting the insides of her lips as she threw a kunai at the target, hitting it dead on.

"I can soo do better!" Sasuke announced. Izami glared.

"Then do it!"

"I will!" Sasuke threw a kunai, threw it, but missed by a few inches.

"Missed." Izami announced with a smirk. Sasuke glared.

"Just watch me! I won't miss again!" He shouted, getting another kunai out. However, it rested in his hand, like he was waiting for Izami to retort. Which she did. Quickly

"Ok! Then do it! Add some bite to your bark!"

"I don't even know what that means!" Sasuke's hand tightened around the kunai with his annyoance.

"It's because you're stupid!"

"I'm not stupid! You are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"At least I can hit a target right!" Itachi couldn't help but be amused at the childish agurement.

"I can hit it! Watch!"

"Then do it already!"

"I am!" With that, he turned toward the target, and hit it dead on. He smirked at her." What now?"

"I can so do better!" Izami yelled, reaching into her pocket, and producing two more kunai. SHe threw each one. Each hitting the target dead on. Itachi leaned foreward, suddenly becoming intrested in what was going on. Sasuke huffed, and threw two of his own, but only one bearly hit the target. The other fell to the ground." You suck." Izami said with a laugh. Sasuke's cheecks burned, and tried again, but the results were the same.

"I don't suck. You suck." He grumbled, turning towards her." Let's do hand-to-hand."

"Ok. Fine. Challenge accpeted." Izami was growing confident with herself, but was quickly dimiloshed when Sasuke easily knocked her to the ground. Izami glared, and got up.

The training session lasted just an hour before Itachi called it enough. Both kids were panting, but Izami felt oddly happy about the turn of events. She found herself oddly liking Sasuke.

"Want to do this again?" Izami asked as Itachi walked her back to Kakashi's place. Sasuke looked at her, and shrugged.

"Sure. "

"Great. We con do this tommrrow!" Izami smiled widely. Sasuke looked at her with an eyebrow raised, and then nodded as he gave her his own smirk.

"Sure. WHatever." Izami giggled to herself, nodding as she was dropped off.

"See ya tommrrow, Izami-chan." Itachi said.

"Yeah. Later."

"Yeah. Later." Izami repaeted Sasuke, waving the two off as they walked away. Izami sighed heavily, and then turned back towards the empty house, closing the door behind herself. Then it hit her, she was voulntairily spending time with Sasuke Uchiha, The Golden Boy, and was actually liking it. WHat was wrong with her?!


	8. a most hated assingment

** Chapter Seven: A unpleasent assingment**

Over the course of the three days resting period from the Academy, Izami made time for Sasuke. The Golden Boy. To train. Of course. WHat else was there for them to do? Itachi went with them, but always seemed to end the sessions too early, only an hour each. Each session, Izami and Sasuke seemed to have no positive interactions. All they called each other were names like "loser" "softy" "annoying" "arrogant", and other choice words. They seemed to have a sort of small, kiddy rivalry between them. Who could throw the most kunai at once. Izami always won that, but she could never throw more than three at once. Who can hit the target most accuratly. Again, Izami always seemed to win at that. However, when it came to hand-to-hand fighting, Sasuke always seemed to win at that, to the annoyance of Izami. Itachi would always watch with a small smile that could easily be interpreted as a small smirk. He always seemed intrested in just what the two would do together.

However, by the time they went back to the Academy, they went about their usual ways of ignoring each other, while slightly resenting the other for any hint of being better than the other. Espically in Izami's case. She made it a personal goal to be better than the Uchiha boy. Not only be better, but to be able to keep up with him. There was no way in hell she ever wanted to be one-uped by him in any way. Of course, she expressed her resentment only a few times to the one person she actually considered her friend, Wabisuke. He would just frown, shrug, and tell her to just ignore Sasuke before changing the subject, and getting his hyper-active nature back. Izami honestly tried ignoring, and forgetting about Sasuke, but there was still that seed of curiosty that just seemed to grow each day. She couldn't just ignore him. It wasn't that easy. At least, not for her it wasn't easy.

Izami found herself oddly relieved when Kakashi came back home, exhausted, from his mission that week after her and Sasuke had their weekend of training.

"How have you been?" He asked as soon as he sat down. His voice sound very tired, lke he hadn't slept at all in awhile.

"I trained with Sasuke-kun, and Itachi-san last weekend." Izami said, her face frowning. Kakashi raised an eyebrow tiredly at her.

"Oh yeah? How did it go?" Izami huffed slightly, and crossed her arms.

"He's such a jerk. Are all Uchiha like that, Kakashi-sama?" Kakashi laughed dryly, and shook his head as he ruffled her hair.

"Not all Uchiha are jerks. Trust me." Izami pursed her lips slightly, and then sighed heavily.

"You need to sleep Kakashi-sama. You sound really tired." The Jonin nodded slightly, turning on his side, but looked over his shoulder at the young girl.

"Are you going to be ok?" Izami nodded slightly.

"Yeah. I've been taking care of myself for two weeks, Kakashi-sama. I'm going to be ok for a while while you sleep." Again, the older of the two nodded, and drifted off to sleep. Izami sighed again, and threw a small blanket over him before retreating back to her own room.

Once there, she laid back on her bed, reading the Academy Book chapter on charka, something they usually taught mid way through the first year at the Academy, but Izami found herself wanting to work more with charka. Just another thing to add to her personal arsonal of things to one-up Sasuke Uchiha with...

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"Alright, class, listen up!" The teacher announced a days later. The whole class noise died down as the students turned their attention towards their sensei." As we have been teaching you, one of the most important things we of the Leaf try to teach our shinobi is the importance of teamwork. I want each of you to split off, and talk to someone you don't normally talk to. Get to kow this person a little better, and I hope you guys get to like this person because the person you choose will be spending ther est of the week with you. Alright. Everyone begin!" With that, kids began splitting off into groups, some grumbling, while others quiet happy about the arrangements.

"Guess that leaves us." Izami jumped slightyl at the sound of Sasuke's grumbling voice. Izami sighed, and nodded.

"Can't believe I have to spend the rest of the week with you."

"Feelings mutual." Izami sighed heavily, and sat down next to Sasuke as the teeacher cleared his throat.

"I forgot to mention there's another part to this excerise. At the end of the week, I want you each to tell me three things you learned about your partner. To get this information, you will need to spend time outside of the Academy together. Do you all understand?"

"Yes, Sensei." Everyone replied almost at the same time.

The rest of te day, the partners the children had chosen, were partners in every excersie, and lesson that was taught. Izami hated to admit it to herself, but she was finding herself getting used to Sasuke. She wouldn't go as far as saying she liked him, but she certainly getting used to him.

"This whole day has been stupid. Why do they want us to spend time together outside of the Academy?" Sasuke grumbled as they walked to Izami's home after school. Izami huffed, and crossed her arms. Sure she was getting used to him, but she wasn't going to let on that she had gotten use to him.

"You're telling me. I don't see the point. What does this have to do with any sort of training?"

"It doesn't make us stronger in any way."

"So pointless. They never did any of this in the Cloud." Sasuke looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"How do you know?"

"My older brother Hikaru, he graduated when he was seven. They never did anything like this. So pointless." Sasuke looked at her for a moment, and then looked away.

"My brother also graduated when he was seven, but they did things like this too." Izami sighed, and shook her head.

"Everyone trains diffrently I guess."

"Hm..." Izami sighed agian, and looked at her feet. Sasuke glanced at her." Why are you training here instead of the Cloud?" Izami's face fell slightly, but she shrugged slightly.

"I...I wanted to come. Father was against it, but...I dunno...Wanted to come here..." Her voice was soft, but she wasn't going to tell him the truth.

"Do you have any other siblings?"

"Yeah. A twin brother. He's also a genius too. What about you?"

"No. Just Itachi." There was a small pause between the two. Sasuke looked at her with a teasing look when he spoke next." If you're family is filled with geniuses, shouldn't you be one too?" Izami blushed with embrassment, but didn't reply for a few mintues.

"I just don't like to show off." Izami said, not willing to admit she wasn't as good as her brothers. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her, and nodded slowly, as if not really beliving her. Izami pouted slightly, her cheecks reddening in embrassment. That seemed like the conformation Sasuke needed that she was lying. He smirked, and looked up at his house with a sigh. He looked at her with a pensive look.

"Ready?" He asked. Izami sighed, and nodded slightly.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Izami said. Sasuke nodded, and opened the door, announcing their arrival.

** A/n: Sorry for the wait, but here it is~! Sorry it's short, but I promise the next chappie will be longer~! let me know what ya all think~!**


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